Cape Kidnappers, New Zealand: On a cliff overlooking the ocean and one of the largest gannet bird colonies in the world, American CEO Harlan Quinn has built his "Plan B" --- a lavish estate, complete with an underground doomsday bunker. The cleaning staff finds a body in the house. It appears the victim died of natural causes, but advanced facial decomposition leaves him unidentifiable. Forensic odontologist Alexa Glock is called in to identify the body via dental records. Teeth never lie. But something odd in the deceased's mouth sets Alexa and the team on a new track --- to find the murderer. As they work to narrow the suspect field, a second homicide --- and a stolen cache of weapons from a locked room in the bunker --- means they're deathly close to the truth.

New Zealand's remote Milford Track seems the perfect place for forensic investigator Alexa Glock to reconnect with her brother, Charlie. But their backpacking trip seems ill-fated from the start when she must stop on the way to examine nine skeletons --- most likely Mori tribespeople --- whose graves have been unearthed by highway construction. Before she opens the first casket, a Mori elder gives her a dire warning: "The viewing of bones can unleash misfortune to the living. Or worse." When a fellow hiker goes missing and is later found dead, Alexa has all she can do to focus on the science as she investigates two murders, while trying not to become the third victim.

At first, Alexa Glock's initial case as a traveling forensic investigator seems straightforward --- her expertise in teeth helps her identify the skeletal remains of a hunter found on the remote Stewart Island in New Zealand. But when she realizes that the bullet lodged in his skull was not self-inflicted, and then a second, shark-ravaged body washes up on Ringaringa Beach, it's clear that something dangerous is lurking in the beautiful waters surrounding the island. Tensions between cagers and locals mount as Alexa dives into the harrowing case. While measuring bite patterns, she makes a shocking discovery that just might lead her to who --- or what --- is behind both deaths.

When a body is found half-submerged in a molten mud pot in one of Rotorua's famous geothermal wonderlands, forensics expert Alexa Glock spots a way to prolong her stay in New Zealand, which she has been visiting for work. Teeth are her expertise, and the investigation needs her help, as other ways of identifying the body may have melted away. Joining Detective Inspector Bruce Horne and his team, Alexa discovers that the murder victim, a city councilman, had trespassed on an island sacred to the Maori. The ancient punishment for such a transgression is disaster, demonic possession or death. Alexa doesn't believe in ancient spirits returning to exact revenge, and when another victim turns up dead, she begins to wonder if the real threat is something --- or someone --- much closer to home.